vendredi 3 juillet 2015

Solar Impulse 2 landed safely in Hawaii

Solar plane landed on the tarmac of an airport in Hawaii after nearly 120 hours flying over the Pacific Ocean.

Artist's view of Solar Impulse 2 over Hawaii

Solar Impulse 2 landed Friday around 17:55 hours near Swiss Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Solar aircraft flown by André Borschberg has completed a Pacific crossing from Japan of almost 8200 km and nearly 120 hours in the air, is a world record for solo flight. "The dream has come true," said André Borschberg shortly after landing. Once there, he remained nearly an hour sitting in the plane for that he be made a leg massage. It is then lowered alongside Bertrand Piccard and said felt "great joy" after so many years of work.

This stage was the longest of the world tour of 35,000 kilometers of Solar Impulse 2. The experimental aircraft landed at Kalaeloa airport on the main island of Oahu, about 30 kilometers west of Honolulu. He was gone from the Nagoya Airport in Japan.

Garland

"He did it," the organization issued while the aircraft powered only by solar energy touched the ground, when the sun rose over the American archipelago. A necklace of exotic flowers around the neck, businessman and Swiss pilot André Borschberg was cheerful and clean shaven on the live images on the site dedicated to this venture.

Solar Impulse 2 landing in Hawaii

"Hard to believe what I see: # Si2 in Hawaii! But I never doubted thatandreborschberg could do that, "quickly said Bertrand Piccard, the second pilot of the unit.

The tired voice, Mr. Borschberg had entrusted the checkpoint at 14:30 have "made small breaks (...) but I'm awake now." He still had a little over 180 km to go, or flight of 3:30. He naps 20 minutes in order to keep control of the device.

Steve Fossett broke record

With nearly 120 flight hours, André Borschberg has largely broke the previous world solo flight record set in 2006 by Steve Fossett, who had flown for 76 hours and 45 minutes (a little more than three days).

"It's really an incredible time. We saw André there five minutes. You can imagine where it happens? Japan! "Said Bertrand Piccard had two hours before arrival. "Five days and five nights in the air," he noted, very moved. "It is there, a few hundred meters above the sea. It's absolutely fantastic," he continued. "He stole that long without absolutely no fuel. (...) It is something historical. "

Next step

Live camera images posted on the website of the expedition allowed the monitoring worldwide the last hours of approach on Hawaii. It is doing at night, only the headlights of the aircraft drew his long silhouette until the first rays of the sun.

Solar plane landed on the tarmac airport in Hawaii

Mr Piccard will take orders for the next port that would connect the islands of Hawaii to Phoenix, Arizona in southwest of the United States in the coming days. But the destination is not definitively stopped, said an organizer.

The plane, which had also had to wait before a month in China, was away on March 9 in Abu Dhabi for a world tour, the first aircraft powered by solar energy for 35,000 kilometers promote the use of renewable energy.

The plane, whose wings are covered with photovoltaic cells, charging its batteries the day and walk at night to the accumulated electrical energy.

Endurance-test

During the crossing of the Pacific, Mr. Borschberg was alone in the unpressurized cabin of 3.8 cubic meters. Flying at altitudes up to 9000 meters, he used oxygen tanks to breathe, and suffered great variations in temperature during one day.

The experimental aircraft landed at Kalaeloa airport on the main island of Oahu

The pilot had meticulously prepared for this test of endurance, as well as Bertrand Piccard who flies alternately on the Solar Impulse 2. Swiss psychiatrist, who comes from a family of explorers, has already completed the first round of world balloon flight.

"The goal is to feel comfortable to be able to accept mentally, and even love, to be in the cockpit during a long period," he told André Borschberg. "I use the techniques of yoga and meditation, self-hypnosis and my partner to relax," he had said.